[Solved] Windows Update now VM's Not Showing in Virtualbox

[GraceBT]

The only thing that has happened is a windows security update.
This happens frequently, and normally causes no problem. But,
this time when I start Virtualbox, all of my virtual machines have
disappeared so this is what I see:

MW020659_13.jpg (5.66 KiB) Viewed 1191 times

I tried restoring from my backup, but my backup had no changes
to make, so the VirtuaBox VM,s direcory has not changed. I also
restored from the hidden folder .Virtualbox with no joy.

My Virtualbox folder is as it always has been:

MW020921_18.jpg (11.78 KiB) Viewed 1191 times

What could cause this problem, and how can I restore these VM's
As I say, nothing has changed in my directories. I am sure of this
because all of the checksums for the backups are correct.

How can this happen? Could it really be the result of a security
update. I am hesitant to back out the Microsoft updates because
I am not sure what problems that that may cause.

Does anyone have any ideas about this. Thanks in advance for
any help that You may have to offer.

I'm treating this with kid-gloves right now because I don't want
to repeat an experience I had before when I had to reconstruct all
of my Virtualbox VM's one at a time. I have considerable work
invested here, and last time it took 3 month of work to re-work
all of my VM's. This is what I want to avoid.

Help Please!!!

73
-grace
NNNN
z

[mpack]

The list of registered VMs, which is what you see when you start the VirtualBox manager, is stored in the file <userdata>\.VirtualBox\VirtualBox.xml. If the VMs are not listed there then it's because this file has been deleted or is otherwise not accessible, e.g. because you are now logged in as a different user. I don't see an easy way for this problem to be caused by a Windows update.

There is probably nothing wrong with your VMs. If the VirtualBox.xml file is truly gone (and there is usually a -prev file there as a backup), then at worst you simply need to use Machine|Add to add the VMs back.

I would try to find out what happened to the old file before you do anything rash however.

ps. The jpegs you attached are illegible to me.

[GraceBT]

Thank You mpac,

You hit the nail on the head! ---> problem solved.

Well I don't know now how it happened , but, indeed, the .Virtualbox\Virtualbox.xml was showing only the
defaults-looking stuff as shown here so that others may see an example of this problem:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
** DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE.
** If you make changes to this file while any VirtualBox related application
** is running, your changes will be overwritten later, without taking effect.
** Use VBoxManage or the VirtualBox Manager GUI to make changes.
-->
<VirtualBox xmlns="http://www.innotek.de/VirtualBox-settings" version="1.12-windows">
  <Global>
    <ExtraData>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastWindowPosition" value="575,265,770,550"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/SplitterSizes" value="153,613"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/UpdateCheckCount" value="2"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/UpdateDate" value="1 d, 2013-03-14, stable, 4.2.6"/>
    </ExtraData>
    <MachineRegistry/>
    <MediaRegistry>
      <HardDisks/>
      <DVDImages/>
      <FloppyImages/>
    </MediaRegistry>
    <NetserviceRegistry>
      <DHCPServers>
        <DHCPServer networkName="HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter" IPAddress="192.168.56.100" networkMask="255.255.255.0" lowerIP="192.168.56.101" upperIP="192.168.56.254" enabled="1"/>
      </DHCPServers>
    </NetserviceRegistry>
    <SystemProperties defaultMachineFolder="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs" defaultHardDiskFormat="VDI" VRDEAuthLibrary="VBoxAuth" webServiceAuthLibrary="VBoxAuth" LogHistoryCount="3"/>
    <USBDeviceFilters/>
  </Global>
</VirtualBox>

Upon looking through several iterations of backups I found one that had more beef. ie:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
** DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE.
** If you make changes to this file while any VirtualBox related application
** is running, your changes will be overwritten later, without taking effect.
** Use VBoxManage or the VirtualBox Manager GUI to make changes.
-->
<VirtualBox xmlns="http://www.innotek.de/VirtualBox-settings" version="1.12-windows">
  <Global>
    <ExtraData>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/DetailsPageBoxes" value="general,system,preview,display,storage,audio,network,usb,sharedFolders,description"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/GroupDefinitions/" value="m=cdcd9b7c-9936-4c77-bb29-772fc201c4a3,m=324ebeb2-286f-4e9b-bedf-daecddde1f60,m=9830383c-fbd4-43aa-806b-41e32e57d98a,m=13d80844-d814-4709-8681-1f8e8b5e5dcf,m=5739c822-1962-4b34-acb5-b83ee9ab80ab,m=9f0d6861-5e9c-4065-bdab-581ff3e5f3e2,m=aab525df-506e-443f-b782-83ab8e262993,m=2a4a7655-7fe4-4d80-8410-05a4bcfcb81f,m=97158990-ac80-4c42-a7c9-e2b347f422c2,m=e1777706-fd9c-451d-a81c-c42c57106356,m=4db83198-71a8-4977-b894-040a50f1df62,m=360c3dde-7003-455d-b838-bd5b7426b8c3"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastItemSelected" value="m=openSUSE 12.2"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastVMSelected" value="9f0d6861-5e9c-4065-bdab-581ff3e5f3e2"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/LastWindowPosition" value="101,178,927,550"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/RecentFolderCD" value="C:/Users/grace/VirtualBox VMs/openSUSE 12.2"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/RecentFolderFD" value="C:/Users/grace/Desktop/pds71"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/RecentFolderHD" value="C:/Users/grace/Desktop/ie0v"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/RecentListCD" value="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\openSUSE 12.2\openSUSE-12.2-DVD-x86_64.iso;D:\Downloads\openSUSE-12.2-DVD-x86_64.iso;C:\Users\grace\Desktop\b7\bascom2.iso;C:\Users\grace\Desktop\b7\Msbasic.iso;C:\Users\grace\Desktop\b7\basic7.iso"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/RecentListFD" value="C:\Users\grace\Desktop\pds71\Disk3.vfd;C:\Users\grace\Desktop\pds71\Disk2.vfd;C:\Users\grace\Desktop\pds71\Disk1.vfd;C:\Users\grace\Desktop\PDS\Disk1.IMA;C:\Users\grace\Desktop\PDS\cdrom.img"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/RecentListHD" value="C:\Users\grace\Desktop\ie0v\Windows 7.vhd;C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\Clone_2_11_Express\Clone_2_11_Express-disk1.vdi;C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\Clone_11_Express\Clone_11_Express-disk1.vdi;C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\Solaris_11_Express_Developer_VM\Solaris_11_Express_Developer_VM-disk1.vmdk;C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\Clone_Solaris_11_Express_Developer\Clone_Solaris_11_Express_Developer-disk1.vdi"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/SelectorVMPositions" value="cdcd9b7c-9936-4c77-bb29-772fc201c4a3,324ebeb2-286f-4e9b-bedf-daecddde1f60,9830383c-fbd4-43aa-806b-41e32e57d98a,13d80844-d814-4709-8681-1f8e8b5e5dcf,5739c822-1962-4b34-acb5-b83ee9ab80ab,9f0d6861-5e9c-4065-bdab-581ff3e5f3e2,aab525df-506e-443f-b782-83ab8e262993,2a4a7655-7fe4-4d80-8410-05a4bcfcb81f,97158990-ac80-4c42-a7c9-e2b347f422c2"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/SplitterSizes" value="365,558"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/SuppressMessages" value=",remindAboutMouseIntegrationOn,remindAboutAutoCapture,remindAboutWrongColorDepth,confirmInputCapture,remindAboutMouseIntegrationOff,confirmGoingFullscreen"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/UpdateCheckCount" value="50"/>
      <ExtraDataItem name="GUI/UpdateDate" value="1 d, 2013-03-14, stable, 4.2.6"/>
    </ExtraData>
    <MachineRegistry>
      <MachineEntry uuid="{cdcd9b7c-9936-4c77-bb29-772fc201c4a3}" src="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\Ubuntu Server Bridged\Ubuntu Server Bridged.vbox"/>
      <MachineEntry uuid="{324ebeb2-286f-4e9b-bedf-daecddde1f60}" src="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\OracleSolaris11_11-11\OracleSolaris11_11-11.vbox"/>
      <MachineEntry uuid="{9830383c-fbd4-43aa-806b-41e32e57d98a}" src="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\Solaris 11-1111 Developer\Solaris 11-1111 Developer.vbox"/>
      <MachineEntry uuid="{5739c822-1962-4b34-acb5-b83ee9ab80ab}" src="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\Windows 7 x64\Windows 7 x64.vbox"/>
      <MachineEntry uuid="{9f0d6861-5e9c-4065-bdab-581ff3e5f3e2}" src="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\Clone_11_Express\Clone_11_Express.vbox"/>
      <MachineEntry uuid="{aab525df-506e-443f-b782-83ab8e262993}" src="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\QNX\QNX.vbox"/>
      <MachineEntry uuid="{2a4a7655-7fe4-4d80-8410-05a4bcfcb81f}" src="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\ZendServer5.6-OL5.7-XE-11.2\ZendServer5.6-OL5.7-XE-11.2.vbox"/>
      <MachineEntry uuid="{97158990-ac80-4c42-a7c9-e2b347f422c2}" src="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\Dragora 2.2\Dragora 2.2.vbox"/>
      <MachineEntry uuid="{e1777706-fd9c-451d-a81c-c42c57106356}" src="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\zenwalk-7.2\zenwalk-7.2.vbox"/>
      <MachineEntry uuid="{4db83198-71a8-4977-b894-040a50f1df62}" src="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\MSDOS 6.22\MSDOS 6.22.vbox"/>
      <MachineEntry uuid="{360c3dde-7003-455d-b838-bd5b7426b8c3}" src="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs\openSUSE 12.2\openSUSE 12.2.vbox"/>
    </MachineRegistry>
    <MediaRegistry>
      <HardDisks/>
      <DVDImages/>
      <FloppyImages/>
    </MediaRegistry>
    <NetserviceRegistry>
      <DHCPServers>
        <DHCPServer networkName="HostInterfaceNetworking-VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter" IPAddress="0.0.0.0" networkMask="0.0.0.0" lowerIP="0.0.0.0" upperIP="0.0.0.0" enabled="0"/>
      </DHCPServers>
    </NetserviceRegistry>
    <SystemProperties defaultMachineFolder="C:\Users\grace\VirtualBox VMs" defaultHardDiskFormat="VDI" VRDEAuthLibrary="VBoxAuth" webServiceAuthLibrary="VBoxAuth" LogHistoryCount="3"/>
    <USBDeviceFilters/>
  </Global>
</VirtualBox>

So I copied it to .Virtualbox\VirtualBox, replacing the skinny file with the Beefy one, and yay! Problem Solved.

Thanks again mpac, and Folks!

That was easy with help like I get here.

73
-grace
NNNN
z

[mpack]

If the VirtualBox.xml file were to be deleted, then you run the VirtualBox application, then a new xml file would be created containing defaults as you've seen. So, the only question is how come the old VirtualBox.xml was deleted - something to keep an eye on in the future.